Program did not tell true Athens story

by Laura Arenschield
Culture Editor

Athens in the fall — leaves crunching between tennis shoes and brick, alumni crowding the campus for Homecoming and, of course, the famous Halloween block party.

Halloween in Athens is a time-honored and world-renowned celebration. And with the weekend-long party comes the fun and giggles of gathering around the Burrito Buggy and telling ghost stories.

Don't pretend you've never done it.

Anyway, the ghost stories that pop up around Halloween fill our small college town almost as fast as all the "friends" who want to stay with Ohio University students on Halloween weekend.

Last year, the horror tales were blown up even more by a certain television station that came down to report on the world's most haunted places.

I saw that show. It wasn't Athens at all.

It featured a Poltergeist-esque voice and over-edited clips of dorms, cemeteries and the Ridges. And even though there are times when all three really freak me out, I was offended by the way the town that's become my home was portrayed.

Athens has a lot of spooky stories — that's part of its charm. But the stories, believe it or not, are just that — stories

They're fun to tell, especially around Halloween, but the truth is that most aren't true.

As a journalist, I cringed as I watched the television program that showed Athens as a creepy haunted ghost town. Because as a journalist, I've been taught not to make up facts and stories about what I cover.

Although most people probably don't respect the station that broadcast that show as a source of journalistic integrity, some people saw it and thought that those stories were what Athens really was.

Those people don't know about the food buggies Uptown and the Banjo man. They don’t know about the Dairy Barn, the international film festival or late night dinners and never ending coffee with friends at the Union Street Café.

They think that Athens is just spook stories and ghosts and anyone who's spent more than a weekend here knows that's not true.

This Halloween, when I dress up and head out to face the Court Street melee, I'm going to a have a good time. And I'll tell all the ghost stories and get properly terrified like a good OU student.

But when the weekend's over, I'll forget about them all and go back to normal life in this unique town.